North And South Korea Agree Date For Historic Summit In More Than A Decade

North and South Korea will hold their first summit in more than a decade.

The date has been revealed by South Korean government officials who held high-level talks with their North Korean counterparts on Thursday.

The two Koreas had agreed earlier this month to hold such a summit at the border truce village of Panmunjom when South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent a delegation to Pyongyang to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The historic meeting will be only the third ever such meeting since the Korean War.

The North’s three delegates were led by Ri Son Gwon, chairman of a state agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs.

The historic meeting on April 27 comes amid increased diplomacy from Kim.

Last year the dictator got into a war of words with US President Donald Trump, who referred to Kim as ‘Little Rocket Man’ at the UN.

At the time North Korea was regularly testing missiles, some which flew over nearby Japan and landed in the sea.

The two countries technically remain at war but South Korean president Moon Jae-in, who came to power in May, has pledged to engage North Korea in dialogue as well as bring pressure to impede its nuclear and missile programmes.

The South’s delegation arrived in Panmunjom after their vehicles crossed the heavily guarded border near the southern city of Paju.

Kim recently visited China in his first foreign visit since coming to power in 2011.

According to China’s state news service, Kim maintained he is committed ‘denuclearisation’ and claimed he has improved peace in the Korean peninsula.

“It is our consistent stand to be committed to denuclearisation on the peninsula, in accordance with the will of late President Kim Il Sung and late General Secretary Kim Jong Il,” Kim Jong-un said.

It has also emerged Japan has sounded out the North Korean government about a bilateral summit, and Pyongyang has
discussed the possibility of a leaders’ meeting with Japan, Japan’s Asahi newspaper said on Thursday.

The government of Kim Jong Un has informed leaders of North Korea’s ruling Korean Workers Party of the possibility of a summit with Japan, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified North Korean source and briefing papers.

“The Japanese government has expressed a wish to host a leaders meeting, via the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan,” or Chongryon, Pyongyang’s de facto embassy in Japan, the Asahi quoted the North Korean briefing papers as saying.